The present invention relates to hooks, and, more particularly, to safety hooks which are used to attach a chain to another object; the safety hook having a safety latch over the hook opening which receives the object to which the hook is attached. The safety latch is generally designed to prevent the hook from becoming unintentionally disengaged from the object. For example, a safety chain on a trailer towed behind a motor vehicle is generally used to secure the trailer to the vehicle as a safety measure in case the trailer hitch becomes disengaged. The safety chains are generally secured to the under carriage of the vehicle using safety hooks having a safety latch.
Hooks have been used for years to attach chains to other objects. However, the wire formed or bent safety hooks having latches have not been manufactured with the simplicity one might employ to reduce costs and process steps, or so that the safety hook can easily accept a chain link through the chain link receiving opening. Accordingly, a new design of a safety hook is needed which will avoid these problems and provide a safety hook which can be easily attached to a chain without requiring a further attachment device and which has a simple design which is inexpensively produced.
It will be appreciated from the foregoing, therefore, that prior art devices and methods of making and using these devices present problems that are in need of solutions. It also will be appreciated that further enhancements of the cost effectiveness of the present invention and methods for making the same will provide needed efficiencies for consumers and manufacturers alike. The present invention provides solutions for these and other problems.
The present invention provides a safety hook having a wire spring latch. The wire spring latch 26 is a wire loop pawl. In preferred embodiments, the safety hook is made of a heavy gauge wire form material, which is preferably bent only in two places to form first and second ends, a chain link securing end and a hook opening end, respectively. The wire loop pawl is preferably a rod of elastically deformable material, bent to form an open loop and bent-over ends about which the pawl pivots with respect to the body of the safety hook when the latch is deformed and forced away from a distal end of the hook opening end of the safety hook. The bent over ends of the wire loop pawl are not coaxial. Each is inserted into one of two spaced apart apertures in the proximal end of the chain link securing end of the safety hook. In this way, the bent-over ends of the wire loop are kept in spaced-apart positions in which they are situated a distance from one another, thereby preventing pivoting with respect to the body of the safety hook, unless the wire loop is deformed. The wire loop may be deformed in such a way as to open the latch, but the latch is heavily spring biased up against an inside of the distal end of the chain opening end of the safety hook. The chain link securing end of the safety hook can receive a chain of the same thickness of material within the chain link securing end, and does not require any further attachment mechanism to attach to a chain. Once the chain link is received within the chain link securing end, the proximal end of the chain link securing end can be further bent or crimped to close the chain receiving opening between the proximal end of the chain link securing end and the closed side of the safety hook opposite the latch, thereby narrowing the chain receiving opening such that a chain link within the chain link securing end cannot be removed without deforming the safety hook.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a method of making a safety chain having a safety hook, the safety chain having a chain including at least one chain link is provided. In the preferred embodiment, the method includes the steps of providing a safety hook having: a continuous, unitary hook body formed from an elongated material generally having a uniform thickness; the hook body including first and second ends joined together by a generally straight section. The first end is a chain link securing end having a first turn section which interconnects the straight section with a proximal end which is angled generally back toward the straight section. The hook body has a chain link receiving opening between the straight side and the proximal end, wherein the distance between the straight side and the proximal end is greater than the thickness of the material of the hook body. The second end of the hook body has a second turn section extending away from the straight section and providing a curved hook portion including a distal end. The proximal end preferably has first and second spaced-apart wire receiving apertures. A wire spring latch is pivotally connected to the proximal end. The latch includes a wire form loop having two bent-over ends. The respective bent-over ends are pivotally engaged within the respective spaced-apart wire receiving apertures in the proximal end and the chain link receiving end has a gap between the straight section and a tip of the proximal section. The preferred method further including placing the chain link within the chain link securing end and crimping the proximal end toward the straight section such that the gap between the straight section and the tip of the proximal end is smaller than the thickness of the material.
In further embodiments of the present method, the step of providing a safety hook includes bending a length of standard wire form material to form the continuous, unitary hook body and further includes a step of bending a rod of elastically deformable wire form material to form the latch. In further embodiments, the step of providing a safety hook, further includes engaging the bent-over ends of the latch within the respective spaced-apart wire receiving apertures.
It will be appreciated that an object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive safety latch which is made with great simplicity, and, therefore, at a reduced cost to the manufacturer.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a safety latch wherein the latch is biased toward a closed position. It is a further object to provide a latch which is spring biased toward the closed position. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a hook body which is easily engaged with a safety chain and manipulated to secure the safety chain within the chain link securing end of the hook body in order to prevent the safety hook from disengaging from the safety chain over time.
The above-described features and advantages along with various other advantages and features of novelty are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto arid forming a part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, its advantages and objects attained by its use, reference should be made to the drawings, which form a further part hereof and to the accompanying descriptive matter, preferred embodiments of the present invention.